Should AC Caps Be Redesigned So Teens Stop Huffing The
Refrigerant And Dying?

“My husband came home and saw someone hunched over by the AC unit. He basically said, ‘What are you doing?’ and when he did that and touched my son, he fell over. And when he fell over, he made this strange sound like the air was coming out of his lungs,” said a woman who is now the president of UPROAR, United Parents to Restrict Open Access to Refrigerant.

AC refrigerant can be easily accessed via a simple valve cap, and UPROAR would like to change that. One company, for instance, sells a tamper-resistant cap that can only be opened with a proprietary key.

AC huffing is a problem in some communities. The president of an air conditioning repair service told WPLG that his workers spot suspicious tampering at least once a month. “We have seen it several times where the unit is out of refrigerant and the service caps are missing and no leaks on the system,” he said.

“Don’t make the same mistake I did. I didn’t think my child was going to do this. I taught him better and he knows better,” the president of UPROAR said.